Shawna Thibodeau

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Grimsby, ON
Shawna Thibodeau

Shawna Thibodeau offers counselling, group coaching programs and meditation circles to help women reach increased peace, happiness and live their truths.
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Shawna Thibodeau is a Registered Nurse working in mental health. Through Be Free, Shawna works as a private coach, holistic counsellor and certified meditation teacher to empower women and help create lives of happiness, passion and purpose. Shawna specializes in hospital-based mental health and crisis treatment. Through Be Free, she offers women her unique knowledge in mental health combined with interests of positive psychology, mindfulness, energy psychotherapy and spirituality. Be Free is a sanctuary of wisdom and strategies offered through articles, video and private services to optimize the lives of others and help them reach their full potential.

04/11/2026

Had a great time at The Velvet Bookmark bookstore in Tonawanda, New York today discussing and signing copies of The Light That Shines Through ❤️✨🌸

Thank you for having me and thank you for all your support with this book! 💕

For those new to the book, The Light that Shines Through is all about how to use your mind through meditation, spirituality and inner healing practices to heal, connect to your intuition, and create shifts within your life 🧘🏼‍♀️💃🏼✨

Available through the link in my bio ❤️

04/01/2026

April events are here! Here is what we have coming up this month:

Sunday April 12th: Kinetic Bloom - Breathwork, Dance & Sound, 3-6pm
Ridgeway, Ontario
An afternoon of breathwork, ecstatic dance and sound healing journey with & . Join us for an afternoon of release, healing, movement and fun ✨

Friday April 24th: Evening Breathwork & Meditation, 7-9:15pm.
Dundas, Ontario (Just outside of Hamilton) .yoga.fitness
An evening session to release stress and emotional tension, experience healing, connect inwards with yourself and your life, and gain clarity on your path forward.

Sunday April 26: The Restore & Reconnect Day Retreat, 10-4pm
Niagara Falls, Ontario
A gentle day of meditation, inner reflection, and emotional healing practices to reconnect with yourself and return to a deeper sense of peace and wholeness within.

🔗 in bio to learn more about all of these events and to grab your spot.

Hope to see you this month! ❤️

xx Shawna

03/17/2026

It was last year during a retreat breathwork session that a participant said this to me.

She had gone through a relationship breakup and had an extremely challenging year. She was looking for relief and healing and she’d never done breathwork before.

When she came out of it she looked at me and said, “Holy, that was the most healing I’ve felt in an hour compared to the whole last year.”

And this is why I love breathwork. 😍💫

It gets into nooks and crannies that other modalities can’t and brings us to unique insights, healing experiences, and clarity about ourselves and our lives.

If you’ve been curious to try breathwork, there’s two events to join us this week:

❤️Evening Breathwork & Meditation: This Friday March 20th, 7-9:30pm. Dundas, Ontario
An evening session to reduce stress and emotional tension, to become more grounded within yourself and gain clarity and insight on your path forward.
(4 SPOTS LEFT)

❤️The Peace & Empowerment Day Retreat: This Sunday March 22, 9:30-4pm. Hamilton, Ontario
This is a healing & rejuvenating day retreat to learn skills and practices to reduce stress, find greater peace within, and experience greater empowerment within your life.
(3 SPOTS LEFT)

🔗 in bio to learn more and to register.

Send me a DM if you have any questions 🙏🏼

Shawna

03/13/2026

We have two events happening next week!

Friday March 20 (evening): If you’re looking for an evening of self-care, we have our evening breathwork and meditation session happening next Friday (March 20) in Dundas, ON (just outside of Hamilton). 7-9:30pm. This session helps to reduce stress and emotional tension, to become more grounded within yourself and gain clarity and insight on your path forward.

Sunday March 22 (full-day): This month we also have the Peace & Empowerment Day Retreat happening on Sunday March 22 in Hamilton, Ontario. This is a healing & rejuvenating day retreat to learn skills and practices to reduce stress, find greater peace within, and experience greater empowerment within your life. It includes meditation, gentle yoga, breathwork + nervous system and emotion regulation practices. **During the day I also teach how to use these practices in simple and quick ways at home so you can experience improved emotion regulation, stress reduction and greater inner peace in your everyday life.

Beginners are welcome to both sessions!

If you have any questions about either of these sessions, send me a DM.

🔗 Visit www.shawnathibodeau.com to learn more and to grab your spot,

xx Shawna

01/12/2026

Our 6-week online meditation program, Stillness starts in just one week!

This program is for anyone wanting to learn the practice of meditation and commit to a daily 20-min practice throughout the six weeks.

Stillness is a great fit for anyone experiencing:
- Low/depressed mood or lack of motivation
- Lack of inner peace or inner fulfillment throughout your day
- Stress, fear, anxious or ruminating thoughts or spiralling
- Overwhelm and not feeling grounded within
- Reactivity, irritability or feeling frequently triggered
- Feeling stuck or lack of clarity on your path forward

Meditation was the first practice I discovered on my spiritual path, when I was experiencing all of the above.

It’s funny what sitting in stillness can do (don’t worry, I know sitting in stillness can sound daunting but, I’ll teach you how).

My mind became quiet - a quiet and peace I hadn’t experienced before. The world around me became vibrant - I share a funny story of this in my book, The Light That Shines Through, where after a few weeks of practice, I had a moment on the bus where I was absolutely captivated and filled with joy by a view of nature, while everyone else was staring at their phones. It felt like I was high - but wasn’t, I was just consistently meditating. My mood improved. And then I started hearing my inner truths during my practices of silence.

Consistent meditation practice changes the neural pathways of the mind and how the mind is working. And when we change how we’re resting in and perceiving the world around us, so much changes from there. We don’t even realize how much HOW we perceive the world and our lives, is affecting the very feeling and experience of our lives.

Super excited to dive into a solely meditation focused 6 weeks with you!

The Stillness Meditation Program starts in one week, online on Monday January 19th, 7PM EST.

🔗 Click here to learn more: https://shawnathibodeau.com/meditation-program/

xx Shawna

01/09/2026

I found meditation when I was 22 (I’m now 36). I was in nursing school and experiencing depression and anxiety. I felt stuck, stressed, struggling in a low mood and didn’t have motivation for the future.

I found a psychologist who also taught meditation. He said he recommended his 8-week meditation program over psychotherapy. I didn’t know what meditation was but I researched it and found that it had good outcomes for mood, depression and anxiety. I decided to sign up.

During my first meditation practice back in 2012, I understood what Dr. Lee was pointing to when we practiced following an anchor (our breath) and observing thoughts as they come up. I had insights into my mind right away during that first practice.

But it was over the course of a few weeks that I really noticed how it was working on my mind…

- My mind got more quiet and more calm.

- The inner chatter got turned down and it felt immensely relieving.

- The stress and anxiety decreased.

- I felt a lift in my mood.

- The simple world around me became more awake and alive and woke a natural joy within me

- I began accessing more inner wisdom and clarity on my path forward.

I was amazed that simply sitting in stillness could have these shifts on my mind, my mood and my life.

Slowly, through meditation, my mood improved and I began aligning my life to the inner truths that were coming to me. This is how my life shifted from the practice. And this is why I’m so passionate about it.

➸ Starting January 19th I’ll be teaching a 6-Week Online Meditation Program called STILLNESS, if you’re interested in learning meditation and experiencing how it can work on your mind, your mood and your life 🧘🏼‍♀️

This course is the most similar to the program that I took with Dr. Lee back in 2012 that I’ve ever taught, which I’m really excited about. The program includes weekly Monday night calls to learn + practice, and you’re provided with a 20-min MP3 meditation each week for daily at-home practice.

I’m excited for the 20 participants we have joining so far ❤️

We start online Monday January 19th, 7pm EST over zoom - join from anywhere.

🔗 Link is here to save your spot: https://shawnathibodeau.com/meditation-program/

xx Shawna

01/08/2026

Our January day retreats are approaching!

The Peace & Empowerment Day Retreat: A day retreat to learn how to work with your mind to heal, come back to your power, find greater peace within & align yourself to your highest path. Includes meditation, breathwork, energy healing & therapeutic, on-paper practices.

January 18th: 9:30-4pm - Niagara Falls, ON at

OR January 25th: 9:30-4pm - Hamilton, ON at

This retreat is for you if you’ve been experiencing…
* Low mood or challenging emotions (sadness, anxiety, fear, confusion, irritability, frustration or anger)
* Stressed, overwhelmed, irritable, or harsh thoughts within
* Lack of inner peace and inner fulfillment
* A challenging life phase or life change that is bringing up difficulty, imbalance and/or challenging emotions
* Feeling confusion, fear or a lack of clarity about your life
* Fears and limiting beliefs that are keeping you stuck or keeping you from taking action on your ideas/inner voice

It’s also for you if you’re desiring to learn...
* How to work with your mind and life situations to create greater inner peace and fulfillment that comes from within
* How to align to the light and your highest Self to create shifts within and shifts within your external world
* How to work with challenging emotions & life triggers
* How to work with stressful or limiting beliefs that might be keeping you stuck
* How to connect to and better hear your intuition and inner wisdom, and how to begin taking action from your soul and highest self

Our consciousness and how we use our minds has a direct effect on our lives AND is the most powerful tool you can begin to use to heal, facilitate inner shifts as well as shifts within your outer life as well.

This day retreat will provide you with a toolbelt of skills and practices you can continue to use throughout your 2026 year to experience greater inner peace, work through stress and challenges, experience greater clarity & alignment with your soul and a more empowered life.

To book your spot visit: https://shawnathibodeau.com/peaceandempowermentdayretreat

DM me if you have any questions,

xx Shawna

12/04/2025

Thank you to everyone that came out to a fall day retreat!

2026 January and February day retreats have been posted ❤️

Although due to government regulations I can no longer run the weekend and weeklong retreats I would like to run (and in the way I believe we should be allowed to run them), I have some great 2026 offerings in the works ❤️

I am not one to conform to rules and red tape that I don’t believe in and the rules and regulations in Ontario are making it incredibly more difficult for Ontario healers and retreat leaders to operate in their businesses. I’ll keep everyone posted on if I do find a path for weekend and weeklong retreats that follows the regulations and feels right to me.

That being said, I would still love to see you at a day retreat where we learn and practice the same invaluable healing practices that have helped me on my journey.

Here is the link for upcoming day retreat dates: https://shawnathibodeau.com/peaceandempowermentdayretreat

And if you’re the government trolling my page, making sure I’m not breaking any rules...with love, I think you need to find something better and more helpful to humanity to do with your life 🙏🏼

Happy holidays 🎄

xx Shawna

09/10/2025

New fall 2025 day retreat location!

Station One Coffeehouse (upper event space), Grimsby, Ontario

Many people travel from Toronto area, Kitchener area, London area and even North Ontario for my day retreats, so I wanted to find a location a bit more central to the GTA.

This will shave 40 minutes off your drive :)

Plus this location has LOTS of comfy couches and a catered lunch! ❤️

Here’s what we’ll be diving into...

The Reclaim Your Peace, Reclaim Your Power Day Retreat & Personal Development Workshop

A deep-dive healing retreat and personal development workshop to bring you back to inner peace and your personal power. Learn ‘The Return’ Healing Framework (my framework for healing & empowerment that combines my studies in spirituality, meditation, energy healing, quantum physics, and psychology). Plus, learn a powerful daily practice to continue at home to create shifts in both your internal and outer reality.

In the afternoon, we dive into an activity that helps us work with real-life scenarios to see where suffering is originating from, where we’re giving away our power or why we feel stuck. We then follow a process that helps us decrease stress, heal the wounded parts within us, and return to greater love, clarity and personal power.

We close the day with a guided breathwork practice for healing, release, clarity and returning to peace. Day includes teachings and practices on meditation & spirituality, inner child work, energy healing and breathwork.

A day of content, learning, connection, and practice.

I’ll introduce a new way of viewing your challenges, stress and your life and help you experience greater healing, peace, and a coming back to your true source of power ✨🧘🏼‍♀️

These are the concepts, teachings and practices that have created so much healing and shift in my own life and I can’t wait to share them with more of you!

To learn more about these day retreats and to see available dates visit https://shawnathibodeau.com/reclaimyourpeaceandpowerdayretreat/

Hope to have you join us this fall,

xx Shawna

08/29/2025

Attended a book club last night as the author 😍 This book club read The Light That Shines Through as their August read ❤️

Great conversation and connection around the book. Thank you for having me and I’m so happy you enjoyed 💕

If you haven’t grabbed your copy of The Light That Shines Through you can do so on my website shawnathibodeau.com/book - 🔗is in my bio 📖❤️

07/23/2025

My book, The Light That Shines Through is now out and available to order! 🎉

If you’d like a copy, you can grab it here: https://shawnathibodeau.com/book/

This book is so special to my heart ❤️

It is a story that shares how I used the mind to heal from depression and anxiety and also how I used the mind and a spiritual connection to build a life of greater abundance, prosperity, expansion and alignment with my soul.

It also follows my experience as a mental health nurse for 10 years and as a tribute to my brother (Gregg), it also shares his journey and his struggle with mental health & addictions.

Whether you are struggling with mood, loss, going through a difficult or dark period in your life OR if you’re wanting to learn how to use the mind to step into greater empowerment and bring greater abundance and opportunities into your life, this book shows you the journey and exactly what skills and practices got me there.

It's also a great book if you have any friends or family members struggling with mental health or addictions, or if they're wondering how working with their minds could potentially help them heal and shift their lives.

Having taken 6 years to write and bring into form, this project is the work I am most proud of!

I'm so excited for everyone to read it and for you to pass it along to anyone you think it might help.

I welcome you to reshare the book/this post in your feed, your stories and when you receive your copy I’m loving seeing pictures of you with the book! Send me photos, share and tag, it’s all welcome.

Thank you everyone for your support and love on this journey - it means so much, and I hope you enjoy The Light That Shines Through! ❤️🎉

https://shawnathibodeau.com/book/

xx Shawna

03/12/2025

Comment “collective” to join tonight’s class on conscious relationships or to grab the replay ❤️

We’ll be covering:
- Exploring how we show up in relationships and how this affects the dynamics of the relationship

- The purpose of conflict and how to navigate conflict in a healthy way

- How to practice conscious communication (includes steps and example script) + how to mitigate tension when it arises

- Exploring and healing relational wounds that might be coming up (what wounds are being triggered within you when conflict arises)

Comment “collective” to learn more about where to find this class ❤️

xx Shawna

Address

Grimsby, ON
L3M

Website

http://www.shawnathibodeau.com/

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